Promoting places of Hindu religious importance, fairs and festivals are the salient features of the tableaux made by the UP tourism department and UP information department for the Republic Day parade in Lucknow.
The tourism department tableau has pictures of Taj Mahal depicting Taj Mahotsav, Lucknow’s famous Rumi Darwaza portraying Lucknow Mahotsav and Gorakhnath temple indicating Gorakhpur Mahotsav.
These have been introduced, for the first time, by the BJP government of the state.
By using picture of Taj Mahal, the government has tried to put an end to the recent controversy over the alleged ‘bypassing’ of the world-famous monument in a tourism department booklet.
Alongside the Taj picture, it has put the picture of the Gorakhnath temple, of which chief minister Yogi Adityanath is the mahant.
The tableau also features the Ganga to showcase the upcoming Allahabad Kumbh 2019 and Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ held on Diwali in October, 2017.
A Guinness World Records team had recorded the Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ and confirmed that a record 1,87,213 diyas (lamps) were lit at the ‘Ram Ki Paidi’ on the bank of river Saryu in the temple town.
Yogi had attended the function and performed ‘arti’ of Ram, Sita and Laxman as “artistes portraying them landed from a special chopper.”
{{/usCountry}}Yogi had attended the function and performed ‘arti’ of Ram, Sita and Laxman as “artistes portraying them landed from a special chopper.”
{{/usCountry}}But all eyes will be on the central area of the tableau, where artistes will perform live the ‘Lathmaar Holi’ of Nandgaon (Mathura), the home town of Lord Krishna.
After Ayodhya’s ‘Deepotsav’ and now Gorakhpur Mahotsav, the state government now has an ambitious plan to showcase the grand ‘Lathmar Holi’ celebration in Barsana in March, with Yogi expected to be the chief guest at the function.
“Along with promoting religious tourism, we are also taking this opportunity to bring forth various fairs and festivals of Uttar Pradesh to citizens of the state,” a tourism department release said.
Meanwhile, the information department tableau showcases ‘Subah-e-Banaras’ -- the mornings of the temple town Varanasi. It depicts the complete scene of the Ganga ghats --temples resonating with the sound of bells and conch shells (shankh), people taking holy dip and also eating ‘khasta-kachauri’. Adding to this is the space depicting the rich musical heritage of Banaras Gharana and the ‘evenings’ of ‘meetha paan’.